Joe Rogan’s View on ADHD Revealed in Interview with Fox News Star
Joe Rogan is once again raising doubts about ADHD and the use of medication to treat the condition.
During an interview with Fox News host Kat Timpf, who has been taking ADHD medications for 30 years, Rogan said he wasn’t sure what ADHD was or whether it should be considered a disease.
The host has repeatedly asked questions about the condition on his popular podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, which has more than 14 million followers.
He said, ‘I don’t know what this is. Because every time someone talks about ADHD and people want to insist that it’s a real pathology, that it’s a real problem, I always think, boy, I don’t know, because I think it’s a superpower.’
Ms Tampf, 35, says she was diagnosed with ADHD at age five and was soon after forced to take amphetamines, but she stopped taking them because she is now pregnant and worried about the effects of the drugs on her unborn child.
Joe Rogan suggested during the episode that there was no need to take medication if you were diagnosed with ADHD
During the episode, which has been viewed more than 650,000 times on YouTube, Rogan told Timpf that she seemed like “a great person” now that she was drug-free, before adding, “I don’t think you need them.”
Later in the podcast, host Timpf warned that there is no such thing as a “biological free lunch,” and suggested that ADHD medications can cause complications later in life.
Mrs Timpf said: ‘I feel like I’m getting to know myself, but also that I’m not really myself because of the pregnancy.
‘I’m curious to stay away from it for a while after the pregnancy, just to see. I’m going to start doing it again to some extent.’
She said she was given drugs at a young age because she was disruptive in class, and when she stopped taking drugs earlier, she felt like she was “wading through mud.”
ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is defined as a behavioral disorder in which patients are persistently inattentive, hyperactive, or impulsive.
Since the 1980s, powerful amphetamines such as Adderall have been used to treat the disease. These drugs increase neurotransmitters in the brain, improving focus and concentration.
ADHD diagnoses have risen in the U.S., with an estimated 7 million 3- to 17-year-olds having the condition — about a million more than before the COVID pandemic. In total, an estimated 8.7 million Americans have ADHD.
Adderall prescriptions have increased 16 percent since the Covid pandemic, with 41 million prescriptions written in 2021, the latest available date, compared to 35.3 million in 2019.
The US is an exception to the rule when it comes to ADHD treatment compared to European countries. Eleven percent of American children under 17 have been diagnosed with the condition, compared to one percent of French and British children.
Globally, the US accounts for 69 percent of the ADHD industry, which is worth an estimated $9.6 billion.
Once patients are prescribed medication, they must take amphetamines two to three times a day, often for the rest of their lives.
This is despite concerns about side effects from long-term use of the drugs. The American Addiction Centers previously stated: ‘Although taking Adderall can help a person achieve impressive mental or physical feats, long-term use or short-term use of high doses may lead to a decline in cognition or physical ability due to its many side effects.’
Research shows that long-term use of amphetamines like Adderall can lead to mood problems such as anxiety, depression, or even psychosis.
The comments are just the latest attack by Mr Rogan on ADHD, after he invited Canadian physician Dr Gabor Mate onto his podcast two years ago, who declared that ADHD is “neither a disease nor hereditary”.
Dr. Mate told Mr. Rogan two years ago: ‘A lot of so-called experts say (ADHD) is the most heritable disease there is, but I say it is neither a disease nor is it heritable.
‘Poor impulse control and sometimes hyperactivity, difficulty sitting still and a tendency to fidget, and things like that. This is not a disease and it is not hereditary.’
He suggested that normally when someone is stressed, their fight or flight response is activated. But in cases where someone can’t do this, the brain can simply shut down and not focus instead — in what’s called ADHD.
Rogan also sparred with journalist Timothy Denevi about ADHD when he wrote an article for Salon.
Mr. Denevi, who has written an entire book about the condition, said Rogan asked him, “I mean, you don’t have a problem that requires you to take the drug, do you?”
Adderall prescriptions have been steadily increasing over the past 12 years. The figures include prescriptions for both brand and generic Adderall in the U.S.
It is likely that Mr Rogan’s views reflect the controversy over the condition in academic circles, with some experts maintaining that ADHD is not a condition that should be treated with medication.
Instead, they argue that it is a difference in mood, and that this causes a person to function less well in a standard learning or work environment.
Patients have also previously indicated that, because they no longer need to take medication, they feel like they are ‘wading through the mud’ and that this makes it difficult for them to concentrate.
Rogan said in his podcast, “I think everyone would like to be a little more productive, especially if you’re a creative or a writer.
“But there is no biological free lunch, and there is likely to be long-term damage from a lifetime of stimulating your system.”
He added: ‘I know a lot of people who did a lot of coke in the 70s and they messed it all up. A lot of them died from neurological conditions.
“I just wonder what the difference is between snorting coke for a couple of hours five nights a week and taking a pill every f****** day that sends your system into overdrive. Who knows if you’ll blow a fuse in that time.”
Cocaine is illegal for most purposes in the US and is listed as a Schedule II substance, on the same level as fentanyl, morphine, and opium.
Amphetamines are also considered Schedule II substances by the FDA, meaning they have a high potential for abuse. However, they can be obtained by prescription for ADHD.
Amphetamines work by stimulating the release of the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine, which increase focus, attention, and energy levels. They also improve mood and feelings of euphoria.
In recent years, some amphetamines, such as Adderall, have been used by students as study drugs, to help them remember information for an exam or to write an essay quickly.